[Event] Black Sky, White Land, Silver Wolves (Akeya/Kitalpha Aurence/Leila Vergious)

A gentle, yet substantial snowfall was something that was not exactly uncommon for the silver-haired girl as she looked around, the view of the village quickly clearing up the moment this blue and black mist cleared up. After all, such environment was quite similar to the Phoenix Mountain itself, or at least the high peak on top of which her guild stood. The storm there raged much worse at every waking moment, at least outside of the protective barrier. A means of defense and a good filter for visitors, guided by the spirits of the mountain if they held no ill will in their hearts.

Compared to that, this snow-covered island was not much. At least until recently, which was rather apparent from the many harpoon guns directly aimed at the small boat that suddenly appeared out of a portal of its own. A moment of realization for Leila as she mentally face-palmed herself, wondering just how bad and sloppy did she get in the past several months that she was out of action. Yet, she was still here to help, forcing her to raise her hands for a moment as she waved at the concerned villagers who were ready to defend themselves.

“Don’t worry, good folks of this island! I'm from Silver Wolf, sent by the Council to secure this island from the rampaging… Santa monsters. I thought that’d sound a bit less ridiculous by now…”

So what exactly has happened here? Many different reports of magical creatures and individuals associated with the Winter Holidays have started showing up recently and just about every guild has received a request from the magical council once again. It seemed they were sticking to their old ways, making the ex-guild master quickly remember the whole monster invasion problem. She could only hope that this time would be a bit more peaceful than that war. Though it was rather troublesome regardless, considering that there must have been something wrong if portals were always appearing in places where they should not be.

So after accepting this little big quest that she was invited on, the girl had decided to use her own quick means of transport as the boat ride proved to be a tad bit too tedious. Said means of transport were also opening a portal that had a vague color similarity to the portals that spewed out the dangerous creatures around these parts.

And this was the story of why the Silver Wolf mage was in front of the harbor, nearly riddled with harpoons if the villagers were any more paranoid and trigger happy. Not that it would actually pose a real threat to someone who managed to survive much, much worse and was pretty immortal for the most part... but it would still be far from pleasant, that much she was sure of.

“Well, we’re here. I suppose the portal might have not been the brightest idea I had today, given the enemy’s preferred way of entering Earthland…”

Speaking to herself a bit, she closed in on the harbor. Some of the less grumpy gentlemen quickly helped tie the boat to one of the piers and allowed the girl onto dry, yet equally cold land. With all the snow and ice everywhere, the place certainly seemed appropriate for the kind of task at hand. Thankfully members of her guild just kinda had to be able to deal with the cold due to the location of their guild hall. Leila herself was perfectly fine, though that might have been thanks to the thick coat that covered the entirety of her body, safe for the hood which she currently did not have on.

“Now then... any chance that you have seen another mage come through these parts? I'm supposed to meet up with someone so that we can resolve these portal troubles together. I'm certain you wouldn't be able to miss them.”

Unfortunately, she had received only shakes of the bearded faces. It appeared that she was the only magical person who had been seen in these parts today. And perhaps in even longer time. This piece of land was a bit remote and the climate had made it not that pleasant of a place to visit for most. But speaking of which, a strangely familiar magical energy quickly crept up the girl’s senses, forcing her to turn around and start looking out for this mysterious helper she would be getting this time. Though if she had worked with them before, then surely this could not be so bad. Or at least she had not really recalled any troublesome helpers from her past.

Though it seemed that the problems these people were having were quite serious, so rather than just waiting, Leila had decided to head off toward the source of the magic. She also let her own flow freely, which should alert whoever was looking for her. As well as whoever was not looking for her, most likely. And as the snowfall seemed to grow a bit stronger, the girl also decided to hide her head beneath the brown leather hoodie that was part of her cloak. Honestly, there was part of her that missed wearing this type of garment, even if it hid most of her physical form away.

Most likely because of how often she used to wear the heavy coat of her father when she thought he was gone for good. Now that he was back and adventuring much like Leila herself, he had taken it back. But the reflex of always reaching for it when leaving her room was still there, something that sometimes irritated the silver-haired maiden. But such thoughts were quickly dissipated as the girl seemed to get close enough to properly recognize the magic that she had been sensing this whole time.

“Wait a second...”

Of course, it was so familiar to her. She had sensed it not too long ago when she met a certain dragoness in corrupted ruins. Did they truly pair her and Akeya together again because of her apparent mental instability? That seemed a bit rude toward the other girl... not that Leila was gonna be complaining about this, she enjoyed the company of a dragon. Especially if this venture would prove an opportunity to study her a bit more... in a non-questionable manner, of course.

Much like Leila speculated when she started feeling the familiar magical energy, Akeya had shown herself at a moment’s notice. Honestly, meeting this soon after their last job together was a little bit awkward for Leila. Yes, she was the founder of Silver Wolf… but the majority of her life has been spent on the path. Traveling from one guild to another in order to accept various jobs that fit her skill set. Due to this, she often worked with completely different people every single time pretty much until she had joined a guild known as Golden Phoenix.

The only exception to that was… was… all of a sudden, a fairly strong jolt of pain traveled through the girl’s head, forcing her to massage her temples for a moment. Shaking the strangeness of what just happened to her, it was now important to focus on her actual partner and the situation they were thrown into on behalf of the Magic Council. Waving to the dragon as they approached one another, she just smiled innocently. “Haha, it seems that they’re getting just about every mage available. I don’t think it has anything to do with… you being you.”

Though Leila sounded a bit unsure at that last bit. Honestly, she had absolutely no idea what those people were thinking these days. When she was one of the Saints, she used to have all kinds of information thanks to the person who was sorta in charge of her and being on friendly terms with him. But ever since her return, she only got reports that this member of the council was sent into a different country to resolve some sort of issue. Hopefully that was not a coverup for something happening to him… she quite liked Magus.

It also became quickly apparent that Akeya changed not a bit when she started explaining that she had already tried to scout out the area. Even in the season of cheer, the dragoness appeared to be naturally aware of her surroundings and not exactly focusing on taking it all lightly. Or perhaps that was just how Leila perceived it. “Portals between dimensions are usually very costly in terms of magical energy. So if one opens, we should be able to fairly easily sense it, even if it were a fair distance from us. Or so I hope… there is a chance the magic used for this is different from the one we know.”

After all, the reports mentioned some rather odd beings coming through these warp gates. “Still, a job well done!” Saying that the girl almost instinctively started reaching out with her hand, wanting to pet Akeya on the head again as if she was some sort of puppy that just correctly obeyed her command. But recalling how the dragoness reacted to that before, Leila had stopped herself just before she made physical contact and retracted her limb while looking away for a bit with a simple “Sorry.”

Making her companion uncomfortable in this situation was the last thing she wanted to do. At least a chance to change the subject presented itself, allowing the silver-haired maiden to look back at the dragoness. “Ah, about that… our guild is focused heavily on the research of magic and magical devices, anomalies, that sort of thing. As a result, a lot of our members are working much more closely with the Council to figure out how to close these portals and all. I guess they deemed me powerful enough to go on my own and join up with you.”

Although if this was anything like the monster invasions from not that long ago, such decision was rather questionable on part of the Council. Then again, they also seemed to have much more information about the situation than any of the previous times, so at least there was that as an explanation. Sighing out loud, Leila walked at the same pace as Akeya right next to her even if they didn’t exactly have a proper goal to move towards. “From what I’ve been told, this also seems like a case very similar to our last task together…”

She didn’t think they were exactly related, but it was curious how the events aligned in this way. “If the creatures do appear through the portals like the speculations would have us believe, apparently we should try a peaceful approach first. Unlike the assault of monsters, our opponents are much more on the sentient side this time around. And apparently, they are also known somewhat..? I’m not exactly familiar with the customs of Fiore to be perfectly honest…” At the end of the day, Leila has been in this nation only for about two and a half of a year.

While that was a lot of time for a regular person to learn everything necessary, Leila had spent most of that time doing her job as a mage, both when she was traveling alone and when she was part of a guild. Especially the last Winter season was around when she started forming her plans for Silver Wolf. Not much else was on her mind back then. “Back to the topic… there might be another curse-type magic, forcing these beings to be aggressive. Or perhaps even a misunderstanding of some kind. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Council did something…”

And the moment Leila had hit on that note, a wave of magical energy washed over the entire island as a number of portals started appearing all around them. And from them, a large number of creatures emerged. Were they perhaps drawn to the energies of two powerful beings that were seemingly taking a leisurely stroll through the dunes of snow? Regardless of whether that was the case or not, Leila assumed a ready position, just in case something were to go south. She also nudged Akeya a bit. “I know your stance on things is a bit different, so… try to not upset them too much?” Now she also hoped the dragoness did not take that as Leila not trusting her.

The last time Leila had patted Akeya, the results didn’t seem to be very positive, at least on the outside. But now that the gesture was cut midway through, the dragoness showed the girl an expression she did not yet see on the overly serious twilight dragon. Suffice to say, it made Leila herself gently smile as well. Though whether she would be giving her companion any actual physical affection after the job was done was yet to be decided. After all, much like the dragoness implied right now, they had a job to do first. And possibly a difficult one as well.

It was also somewhat surprising that there was someone who did not know what the primary focus on Silver Wolf was. But then again, Akeya had shown time and time again that she had little care in certain things. “Well, I have created the guild with the idea of providing sanctuary for those that do not fit in the regular world. But my own interests and the need to protect such individuals quickly moved the guild in a certain way. So yes, among other things, we focus on scientific studies of what people call ‘magic’. If I didn’t know you were already part of another organization, I would have invited you.”

A dragon person like Akeya honestly seemed like just the being for whom Silver Wolf was created in the first place. That said, the magic council had very string rules for people and their membership in magic-oriented organizations like guilds. Which was quite a shame, not that Leila thought about it and how much she was enjoying her time with this specific friend of hers. But alas, not much she could do about it but hope that things would be different one day.

The situation also very clearly indicated that this incident was very different from the one in the Forest Ruins, yes. Leila simply compared the two because of how convenient this chain of events was. That said, the maiden gladly listened to the story about Christmas and all that comes with it. In a way, it was quite fascinating, making the girl excited for when they actually encounter these mysterious and normally cheerful forces. Having such nature also made it apparent that a peaceful solution should be possible in some way, as long as she would be able to figure it out.

Not that she would have to wait too long for that. Akeya’s sudden disappearance and then transformation startled the silver-haired girl a bit, the fact that she now had a rather adorable, almost plushy-like dragon on her shoulder made her pretty much freeze in place. A lot of restraint was required to not just start playing with Akeya as if she was a little puppy or something. Which would be probably an interesting show for the not so happy elves and… polar bears… and trees. It was a weird army standing against them, that was for sure.

They also appeared to be rather unwilling to directly communicate. But such should be expected from the minions. Akeya had lovingly pointed out that Santa has appeared in the back line, the one who was probably in charge of this whole operation. Or at least that made the most sense when Leila sensed his magic, considerably higher than that of all the other beings currently surrounding them. Taking a moment, the maiden closed her eyes and sighed. “I’ve sent out my magical energy and retrieved it for a quick analysis. I think I have some good news.”

Facing the dragon on her shoulder for a bit, the girl smiled almost apologetically. “Multi-dimensional travel is not exactly… easy. And as I made my theory, in order to make this many portals, they must be of pretty low quality. They are also not disappearing. Going through such portals has some negative side-effects on anything living. I believe that if we toss these creatures back in, they will start feeling to sick to return back here and continue fighting us. Doing so should put the nearby village out of harm’s way.”

Now looking toward the back of the enemy forces, Leila had set her gaze on the tall man whos figure appeared rather imposing. “This Santa, on the other hand, will be a whole another case… I should go and confront him directly. He appears to be directly tied to the portals, too. Can I leave the rest to you? Worry not, my magic will give you strength. Just try to not break them all too much while tossing them back into the portals, okay?” With that out of the way, she helped the small dragon out of her shoulder before suddenly disappearing.

After all, Leila was able to open portals on her own, which quickly allowed her to get past the wall of polar bears and Christmas trees, appearing directly in front of this so-called Santa. Though it appeared he had his own personal guard of few elves with a polar bear and the tree he summoned a bit earlier. “Good day. Wha-” Before being able to even finish the sentence, the present that was below the tree suddenly flew at Leila like it was a thrown snowball and hit he square in the head before exploding.

Suffice to say, it left her hair looking like she just got out of bed after a night of many wild dreams. Coughing few times, she suddenly dodged to the side as the bear charged at her with the elves riding on its back like it was their mount. “Apologies, but I just want to talk with your boss!” From beneath her, several powerful vines suddenly shot up and wrapped themselves around the cavalry, quickly picking them up and after swinging them around, tossing them into one of the portals in the sky.

The Christmas tree also started shooting more of its ornaments at Leila, though that was probably not too much of a thread, considering she fairly easily took that hit from the present without even really flinching. After all, her magic was shielding her pretty well. And in this situation, her opponent was a tree. She just snapped her fingers and it started shrinking until it was no longer something to be afraid of. Truly the least threatening opponent for a nature mage like Leila who could control nature and trees. However, the onslaught wasn’t stopping yet.

Santa’s fist got dangerously close to the girl from the side, he was clearly striking while she was distracted. But more bark surrounded her, forming a defensive barrier that only slightly cracked on the impact. “Why are you doing this?!” “Why? To purge this world of the darkness that you bring!” Performing a second strike, he shattered the bark barrier, forcing Leila to jump back and create more distance between them. “Darkness..? I see… Akeya said you were beings that only bring cheer. If you only exist in a world without conflict, then our realm must look like hell to you… and you want to purge it…”

“Precisely. Now, mage of darkness… I will end you!” His muscles strengthening, he even ripped apart his own top as he suddenly jumped in the air and started falling at Leila, ready to pummel her until nothing was left. “Come forth, my light!” Not very pleased by being called a mage of darkness, Leila decided to show father Chrismas her true power, however. Much like in their previous job, she had decided to bring the Gardens of Eden forth. But this time for long enough so that Akeya could appreciate it.

In fact, as the forest around them transformed into one of silver and brilliant blue, the dragoness could feel her body brimming with power. She was getting empowered by the Gardens as an ally of Leila. And speaking of which, the maiden stood calmly only a few meters away from a kneeling Santa who was temporarily brought to his knees under the weight of H-ranked magic and the shockwave it produced. “I think you misunderstood, sir…” But it was not meant to bring him down. It was meant to show him something.

“If my assumption is correct, then I can understand your view on things. Certainly, this world is hardly perfect like the one you come from might be. But I don’t think that is something bad or wrong. And while you think us to be mages of darkness, there is actually a lot of people that do good. For every heinous act, there will be a dozen of acts of kindness, help, and more. Besides… darkness cannot exist without light. And light cannot exist without darkness.” Putting her hands together into a praying motion, Leila let the wind of Eden wash over her, make her silver hair glow, sparkle, and dance.

“I might not be anyone special, but I am an adventurer.  I have met many people and most of them had the courage to change the world for the better. Use their powers to help. Our world was even in great peril as monsters forged an army to attack the innocent. But we all rallied together and save those who wished to live peacefully. Trying to purge something as beautiful as that… are you sure you want to stand for such a thing?” Santa’s head seemed to hang low as if he was unsure…

Turning around at the sound of her companion’s voice, Leila waved at Akeya and smiled gently while watching the dragoness land close to the duo. “Of course not. Both light and dark are needed to create balance. Neither of them is good or bad, and both can be used by anyone to both aid others, and harm them. Even my own magic which radiates with holy energy originally came from the darkest of darks.” The last sentence perhaps didn’t make much sense, but it was how Leila had seen it. Not many others knew about Miracle Demons, however.

Still, it seemed that their job was quite a bit easier than was imagined at the start. The Council made this seem like a great emergency, but the threat that came forth was just a group of misguided individuals who needed to see another’s perspective on everything. Santa himself finally also got up, clearly showcasing that he was powerful enough to stand even under the heavy influence of Gardens of Eden. He gazed at the beauty for a moment himself, while Leila wondered how could he not be cold without a shirt in an area like this one.

“You have… given me much to think about, human. Your magic is not what I imagined people here would be using. And your words… the more I think about them, the more conflicted I am about everything. I and all who stand for what I do now must return home, so that we may think about this and come to a new decision. For better or worse, I thank you. And I hope that your words sound true.” With that, a new portal has opened up behind him as his giant form slowly disappeared into it.

And then, in a single moment, it was calm again. The only sound that could be heard was the low hum of magic from the still present Gardens. “Well… he didn’t leave us a proper present, but I think we’ve done it. The Council members really should get out of that ivory tower of theirs from time to time so they can actually see what is happening here before declaring a nation-wide emergency.” While saying that, the girl started fixing her hair which got messed up from that one present before. And her spell started slowly fading as well, its purpose no longer being there.

Though she quickly looked to the side and smiled mischievously at the dragoness. “Good job taking care of the other ones as well. I hope you didn’t give them too hard of a time~” Saying that, she jumped toward the little dragon form and lovingly caressed Akeya’s head. “Ooh, it feels strange to be doing this to something that has scales… I kinda like it!” And so Leila Vergious had her first experience with Christmas and Santa in Fiore, as well as how it actually felt to pat pat a dragon. Overall she rated this to be a positive experience indeed!